Ongoing economic uncertainty thanks to the 2016 Brexit referendum has toppled the strength of the British pound, pushing London to 30th on the list - a drop of six places since last year, making it the cheapest it has been in two decades. Manchester fell even further to 56th.

The world's 10 cheapest cities

Damascus, Syria (-14)

Caracas, Venezuela (-13)

Almaty, Kazakhstan (+2)

Lagos, Nigeria (+2)

Bangalore, India (+2)

Karachi, Pakistan (+3)

Algiers, Algeria (=)

Chennai, India (+1)

Bucharest, Romania (0)

New Delhi, India (0)

And while this might be good news for inbound tourists, what does it mean for Britons travelling abroad? London residents spending £6.27 (on average) for a bottle of wine back home, for example, would spend on average £8.52 in Paris, £9.81 in Oslo, £10.76 in New York, £11.38 in Zurich and a wallet-bashing £16.96 in Singapore.

Elsewhere in Western Europe, with the exception of Paris, non-eurozone cities remain priciest. Zurich (joint 2nd with Paris), Oslo (fifth), Geneva (sixth) and Copenhagen (eighth) are among the 10 most expensive.

“This is something we have not seen in over a decade,” commented Roxana Slavcheva, the editor of the survey.

“The competition between Asian hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong (fourth) and Seoul (joint sixth with Geneva), on the one hand and European destinations such as Paris, Zurich and Oslo on the other will be ones to watch over the next survey cycle.”

She added: “More interesting is the fall in the ranking for the Japanese cities, Tokyo and Osaka, which were in the top five most expensive just last year.” Tokyo was actually the world’s most expensive city until 2013, but low inflation has since nudged it down to 11th.

Biggest moves down the rankings

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (-35)

Cairo, Egypt (-22)

Chicago, US (-14)

Nouméa, New Caledonia (-14)

Damascus, Syria (-14)

Caracas, Venezuela (-13)

San José, Costa Rica (-12)

Washington DC, US (-10)

Dhaka, Bangladesh (-10)

Istanbul, Turkey (-10)

As for the cheapest cities in the world - Damascus topping the charts - South Asian regions have continued to sit in the top 10, not moving more than two or three spots from last year; India’s Bangalore, Chennai and New Delhi, and Pakistan’s Karachi among them. The second cheapest city - Caracas in Venezuela - however, screeched 13 places up this year.

Of all 133 cities, Mexico City saw the fastest rise in the relative cost of living, owing to currency movements as well as rising inflation stoked by a jump in petrol prices in early 2017, the report found. Moving up 23 places to 59th position, it is now the most expensive city in Latin America.

Biggest moves up the rankings

Mexico City, Mexico (+23)

Santiago, Chile (+20)

St Petersburg, Russia (+14)

Kiev, Ukraine (+14)

Prague, Czech Republic (+13)

Belgrade, Serbia (+13)

Pretoria, South Africa (+13)

Moscow, Russia (+12)

Johannesburg, South Africa (+11)

Madrid, Spain (+10)

After Mexico City, in terms of the fastest risers in cost of living, we have Santiago in Chile, Russia's St Petersburg, and Ukraine's capital of Kiev respectively.

Turning our attention to the US, with the dollar weakening against other currencies, none of its cities rank among the 10 most expensive cities this year. New York comes in at 13th, with Los Angeles placing 14th, compared with ninth and 11th position, respectively, last year.

Despite a rise in recent years in the relative cost of living in US cities, this latest survey reflects a fall in ranking for all but one (Boston) of the 16 cities surveyed.

“Currency fluctuations continue to be a major cause for changes in the ranking,” the report states. “In the past year a number of markets have seen significant currency movements, which have in many cases countered the impact of domestic price changes.”